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Bless The Lord! · Enjoying the Journey

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  The Book of Ruth begins in dark days, but even in
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  the darkness, God was at work. Through loss,
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  uncertainty, and unexpected turns, we discover a
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  beautiful story of grace, redemption, and hope.
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  Join Scott Pauley for this new study, The Gospel According
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  to Ruth. Light for Dark Days.
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  The psalmist said it well when he wrote, bless the Lord, O my soul,
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  and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
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  That is exactly what Naomi is doing in
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  Ruth chapter 2, the closing verses. She is blessing
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  the Lord She is blessing Boaz, who is
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  being used of the Lord to minister to their needs
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  at this time. I bring you to the closing verses of Ruth chapter
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  2 today, beginning in verse 18. The Bible says of Ruth, and she
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  took it up and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had
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  gleaned, and she brought forth and gave to her that she had reserved
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  after she was sufficed. Now think about this— Ruth carried 50
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  to 51 pounds. That's what an ephah of barley would have been,
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  from the field into the city to her mother-in-law's house.
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  I mean, she's loaded. Can I just tell you, forget not
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  the Lord's benefits. He loads you daily with his
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  benefits. And her mother-in-law, verse 19, said unto her, where hast thou
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  gleaned today? Where wroughtest thou? Blessed be he that
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  did take knowledge of thee. And she
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  showed her mother-in-law with whom she had wrought and said, the man's name with whom
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  I wrought today is Boaz. And Naomi said unto her daughter-in-law,
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  blessed be he of the Lord— do you hear it again?
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  Blessed— who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead.
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  And Naomi said unto her, the man is near of kin unto us, one of
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  our next kinsmen. And Ruth the Moabitess said, he said unto me also,
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  thou shalt keep fast by my young men until they've ended all my harvest.
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  And Naomi said unto Ruth her daughter-in-law, it is good, my daughter,
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  that thou go out with his maidens, that they meet thee not in any other
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  field. So she kept fast by the maidens of Boaz to
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  glean unto the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest, and dwelt
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  with her mother-in-law. I would point out to you again this expression
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  that we studied a few, a few episodes ago about keeping fast,
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  staying fast, sticking close
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  to Boaz and to his people. It's repeated all through the passage.
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  In verse number 8, it was Boaz's invitation:
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  abide fast by my maidens. In verse 21, it's Ruth's
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  repetition: he said to me, keep fast by my young
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  men. In verse 22, it's Naomi's recommendation: yes,
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  it's good, my daughter, uh, don't, don't go to any other field.
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  And in verse 23, it's Ruth's devotion as she stayed
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  fast by the maidens of Boaz. I repeat to you what I said before: stay
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  close to God. Stay close. Don't drift.
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  It's easy to drift. You got to work at being close to the Lord every
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  day and living consciously in his presence and keeping your,
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  your account right with God, keeping short accounts of
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  sin and confessing your sin. But friends, it's worth it. It's worth it.
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  But I want to draw your attention, and not to Ruth,
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  not to Naomi, not to the 50-some
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  pounds of barley, not to all of that, but to
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  Boaz. Because increasingly, as the book progresses, the emphasis,
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  the attention is placed on the Redeemer. That's very important because
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  remember, salvation is of the Lord. We must never
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  get to talking about salvation like it's a thing. What is it to be saved,
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  to have eternal life? It's to know God and his Son Jesus Christ.
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  That's what our Lord Jesus said, John chapter 17.
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  So I want to say to you that it's very important that the emphasis
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  of our study concentrate on what the Spirit of God emphasizes,
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  and that is Boaz. That is the Redeemer.
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  And we'll talk much more about him in the, in the closing 2 chapters
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  of this book. But let me give you just 2 or 3 thoughts today that
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  yield themselves from a casual reading of these verses. First of all, I would point
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  out to you that Boaz was rich.
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  That's obvious. He's got lots of fields and lots of servants
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  and lots of extra, more than enough. It doesn't impoverish
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  him at all to let Ruth glean in the field and
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  to take an ephah of barley. I know he's rich,
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  he's, he's wealthy. Can I tell you that our God is rich?
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  Rich in mercy, rich in grace. The Bible speaks of
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  the riches of his glory. He's rich in every way. He's rich in wisdom.
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  Uh, he has more than enough. Our Savior,
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  our great God, owns the cattle on a thousand
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  hills, but he has more than the physical and the material. He has the spiritual
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  and the eternal. And I am not rich physically
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  or monetarily, but I, I am rich spiritually because my
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  Father owns it all. So number one,
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  he is rich. Number 2, and this is very, very important,
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  he is ready. The Bible said that he
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  took knowledge of her, and in verse 20 it says that
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  he showed kindness to her. How many of you know that a person can be
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  rich and not be kind? A person can be wealthy and not
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  be willing to share, but here is a picture of the
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  Savior who not only has it all but extends
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  it to us. Can you see him with arms stretched out, with,
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  with nail-pierced hands, offering his salvation,
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  the free gift of eternal life? He is ready to save.
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  He is ready to answer our prayers. He is ready to forgive.
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  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins
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  and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Look, if you're not right with God,
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  the problem is not that God's not ready. The problem is you haven't gotten ready.
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  You must come to the place where you say, Lord, I want that salvation,
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  because he who is rich is also ready. And then
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  this is very interesting. We'll talk more about this later in the book,
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  but he is not only rich and ready, he is related.
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  The Bible says in verse 20, Naomi says to Ruth something she
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  didn't know: this man is near of kin to us. He's one of our next
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  kinsmen. Now That's important because you could not be the redeemer if
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  you were not related. You had to be the near kinsman.
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  We'll come back to that thought, but how does that apply to our
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  great Redeemer? Oh, we have not a high priest which
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  cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities. He was in all points tempted
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  like as we are, yet without sin. Emmanuel,
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  God with us. God became a man without
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  ever ceasing to be God so that he could make a way for every man
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  to come to God. You see, he related to us.
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  He stepped out of eternity and into time.
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  God, who is a spirit, took on a body. Why would he do that?
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  He in that related himself to the entire human race.
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  And then on the cross, the Bible says that he became sin
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  for us, he who knew no sin,
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  that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
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  Now listen to me very carefully. You could never be related to God
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  if God did not first relate to you.
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  It would be impossible for you to come into God's family
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  if God's Son had not first come into the human family
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  to make the way of salvation. Can I tell you how great
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  our Lord Jesus is? Our, our Redeemer, our heavenly
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  Boaz. He is rich He is ready,
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  and he is related. And when we come to Ruth
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  chapter 3 and chapter 4, we're going to find that he is the
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  Redeemer. He is the one who is willing to
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  pay the ultimate price to bring us to God. No wonder Naomi
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  said, blessed be he that did take knowledge of thee.
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  Blessed be he of the Lord who hath not left off his kindness to the
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  living and to the dead. And I just want to pause today and say,
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  bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that
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  is within me, bless his holy name. We talk a lot about the blessings of
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  God, and frankly, we take for granted the blessings of God.
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  But let's turn the blessing around today. Let's bless the blesser. Let's give
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  praise to the one who has it all,
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  who is willing to share his salvation with us, and who proved
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  it by coming to earth and making a way the means by which
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  we could truly be redeemed. Father, thank you for Jesus.
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  Jesus, thank you for your sacrifice. Holy Spirit,
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  thank you for showing us these truths. We bless you today
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  for your blessings in salvation. In Christ's name,
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  amen. Thank you
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  for joining us for today's study. If you've enjoyed this
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  Until next time, keep following God's Word and and finding Christ's